Molecular cloning of GAF2, a Schizosaccharomyces pombe GATA factor, which has two zinc-finger sequences

By low stringency screening of a lambda-Shizosaccharomyces pombe genomic library, we have cloned a GATA factor homologous gene, gaf2+, within a 3.1-kb EcoRI fragment. The gaf2 ORF predicts a protein of M(r) 61 kDa consisting of intronless 564 amino acids corresponding to 1,692 bp. Gaf2 has two zinc-fingers as Urbs1 of Ustilago maydis, whereas most of fungal GATA factors have only one zinc-finger. The separation between two zinc-fingers of Gaf2 is rather long. In addition to gaf2, the sequence analysis revealed a Val-tRNA gene in the 3'-flanking region of gaf2. Northern blot analysis indicated that the gaf2 gene is transcribed constitutively irrespective of the nitrogen source in a medium.